05441nam 2200865 a 450 991073434020332120121129125713.0978047290404404729040439780472026968047202696810.3998/mpub.1175684(CKB)3170000000046632(SSID)ssj0000631014(PQKBManifestationID)11370444(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000631014(PQKBWorkID)10590552(PQKB)10692428(SSID)ssj0000605788(PQKBManifestationID)12273692(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000605788(PQKBWorkID)10575570(PQKB)11396485(OCoLC)794700528(MdBmJHUP)muse9762(MiAaPQ)EBC5119645(MiU)10.3998/mpub.1175684(EXLCZ)99317000000004663220091208d2010 ub 0engur|||||||nn|ntxtrdacontentcrdamediacrrdacarrierBulldaggers, pansies, and chocolate babies performance, race, and sexuality in the Harlem Renaissance /James F. WilsonAnn Arbor :University of Michigan Press,2010.1 online resource (ix, 260 p. :)ill. ;Triangulations: lesbian/gay/queer theater/drama/performanceBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph9780472117253 0472117254 9780472034895 0472034898 Includes bibliographical references and index.Introduction: "It's getting dark on old Broadway" -- "Gimme a pigfoot and a bottle of beer": parties, performances, and privacy in the "other" Harlem Renaissance(s) -- "Harlem on my mind": New York's black belt on the Great White Way -- "That's the kind of gal I am": drag balls, "sexual perversion," and David Belasco's Lulu Belle -- "Hottentot potentates": the potent and hot performances of Florence Mills and Ethel Waters -- "In my well of loneliness": Gladys Bentley's Bulldykin' blues -- Conclusion: "you've seen Harlem at its best".Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies shines the spotlight on historically neglected plays and performances that challenged early twentieth-century notions of the stratification of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation. On Broadway stages, in Harlem nightclubs and dance halls, and within private homes sponsoring rent parties, African American performers of the 1920s and early 1930s teased the limits of white middle-class morality. Blues-singing lesbians, popularly known as "bulldaggers," performed bawdy songs; cross-dressing men vied for the top prizes in lavish drag balls; and black and white women flaunted their sexuality in scandalous melodramas and musical revues. Race leaders, preachers, and theater critics spoke out against these performances that threatened to undermine social and political progress, but to no avail: mainstream audiences could not get enough of the riotous entertainment.James F. Wilson has based his rich cultural history on a wide range of documents from the period, including eyewitness accounts, newspaper reports, songs, and play scripts, combining archival research with an analysis grounded in a cultural studies framework that incorporates both queer theory and critical race theory. Throughout, he argues against the widely held belief that the stereotypical forms of black, lesbian, and gay show business of the 1920s prohibited the emergence of distinctive new voices. Figuring prominently in the book are African American performers including Gladys Bentley, Ethel Waters, and Florence Mills, among others, and prominent writers, artists, and leaders of the era, including Langston Hughes, Wallace Thurman, Zora Neale Hurston, and W. E. B. Du Bois. The study also engages with contemporary literary critics, including Henry Louis Gates and Houston Baker.Triangulations: lesbian/gay/queer theater/drama/performance.American dramaAfrican American authorsHistory and criticismAmerican drama20th centuryHistory and criticismAfrican Americans in the performing artsNew York (State)New YorkHistory20th centuryTheaterNew York (State)New YorkHistory20th centuryAfrican AmericansNew York (State)New YorkIntellectual lifeHarlem RenaissanceAfrican Americans in literatureRace in literatureSex in the theaterHarlem (New York, N.Y.)Intellectual life20th centuryAmerican dramaAfrican American authorsHistory and criticism.American dramaHistory and criticism.African Americans in the performing artsHistoryTheaterHistoryAfrican AmericansIntellectual life.Harlem Renaissance.African Americans in literature.Race in literature.Sex in the theater.812/.5209896073Wilson James F309624MiUMiUBOOK9910734340203321Bulldaggers, pansies, and chocolate babies3401490UNINA